Summer Days Then and Now... and the Secret Garden

One of my favorite childhood stories was a book called The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. My mother bought it for me on one of the first shopping trips we had together. When I saw this pattern in an Australian Patchwork and Quilting magazine, I knew that it was the perfect pattern for my sister in law Margaret, who is a university professor in the field of children's literature. I fussy cut all the flowers so that they were centred. It is a flowery garden that is quite soft looking and I was very happy the way the quilt turned out. The photos which were scanned into my computer are unfortunately a bit blurry (yes I have my own computer back Yeah !!!!) I made this quilt about 5 years ago to celebrate a special birthday. Margaret also owns the Trip around the World quilt that I posted about recently.

Since I wrote last time,the days have been mostly pleasant. We went to visit my parents over the weekend in Red Deer. It was lovely to spend time with my folks and see some of my other family members.

My aunt was there visiting, as well, so we got to reminiscing about memories of my grandmother's home. My mother and her siblings grew up on a farm in a small house that was built by the early settlers of the province(in the early 1900's). The house had been expanded from two rooms to 4 rooms. My early childhood memories are ones of a big farm kitchen with a pump and water basin to wash your hands. It had a old wood stove and there was an oil heater in the living room. There were many chilly trips to the outhouse and hurrying to get dressed, because the floors were cool early in the day even on a summer morning. The house had a few renovations before they built a second home on the property.
When they built the new house in the early 70's, my gran really thought she was on easy street with all the indoor amenities that we often take for granted- electric stove, washer and dryer and hot showers available at any time. Me, I was thrilled not have to go to the outhouse when we visited the farm.
My mother said that power was added to the old house in the early 50's around the time that the house went from two rooms to four rooms.( that was before my time :>)

One thing that I remember about summer days at the farm (I spent large parts of my summers at the farm with my grandparents)was the rhythm of it. I have vignettes of early breakfasts of hot cereal, soft boiled eggs and toast, followed by doing dishes and trips to the garden. My gran spent a lot her time tending things whether it was the farm animals, the garden, or us children. She worked hard putting up preserves, canning and freezing vegetables for the winter months. Her delicious meals consisted of meat, potatoes, garden vegetables and farm cream and berries picked from the wild patches that surrounded the farm.
One staple berry was saskatoons - somewhat like a blueberry but with a slightly different flavor.
It wasn't all work- we sang, we took meals to my grandfather,played card games(including Authors) and danced to the songs on the radio. One of our favorite things to do was to play in the treehouse with old Avon bottles that we got from my grandfather's dump. We mixed mixtures from old spice cans-(at one point, my grandfather had sold Watkins spices). They did make wonderful mud pies that had the most interesting aromas even though my brother wasn't interested in eating our concoctions.

We have a large sky photo of the farm that hangs in our living room. The buildings are surrounded by the lush green foothills. My grandparents lived on a piece of property that was adjacent to the original homestead settled in 1907. After my grandmother passed away in the fall of 2003, the property was sold. While I can no longer visit the farm, viewing the photo transports me back to the wonderful summers of my childhood.

While at my parents, my dad dropped me off at two of the local quilt stores that Pam and I visited last summer. Yes Pam, I did find some more sale items to add to my stash- a glorious big print sunflower piece was the " piece d'resistance". Better yet, I found a 60 degree ruler and a ruler gripper that I had been trying to find for awhile now. The notions were all 25 % off too so that made it even better. The other shop I found a nice piece of minkee that will make a beautiful baby wrap so I very happy with my shopping finds.

Bruce had gone to a astronomy gathering that was held out near Caroline not far from where my grandparent's farm was situated. He and the group were observing the night skies for meteor showers.Soon it will be the biggest meteor shower of the year- the Perseids with the peak falling on August 12, but this year the viewing could be hampered by the full moon.

When Bruce returned on Saturday evening, we took my parents out to one of their favorite Chinese restuarants for their anniversary dinner. The food was delicious - especially the soft vanilla ice cream.
Soft vanilla ice cream cones were also a favorite childhood treat- There was a Dairy Mart that was two doors from my second childhood home. They used to cost 10 cents for a regular cone.and 25 cents for a large one.(I was a child a long time ago, I guess VBG)
In Bruce's family they made ice cream in an old fashioned hand turning cedar maker- you start with a vanilla custard base, cream and lots of turning of the enclosed cylinder that was packed in the ice and salt. Yummy!

We have had a hot spell here in Alberta- in the low 30's for most of the past week. It has rained occasionally in the middle of the night but trying to get the house cooler has been a challenge. It also has slowed me down quilting- just too hot to sew comfortably.

However,I have all of my stars made for my quilt and my pieces cut for the quilt retreat on the weekend. After I post this I will go and start putting the stars together as I want to spray baste the star quilt this weekend too.

Bruce's sister is here from the West coast so we plan to have brunch on Sunday before she returns home. She has been taking an Orff Music course and has found it enjoyable and challenging. It is always fun to learn new techniques to hone one's skills.

On a sad note, I will go and attend a colleague's elderly mother's funeral on Thursday. She passed away suddenly on Saturday of a stroke. It is never easy to lose your loved ones- especially your parents. My heart goes out to my friend L. and her family at this difficult time.

A lovely giveaway prize arrived in my mailbox today from Rachaele of the Park Avenue Sweat Shop. She send me a lovely package of Moda charm squares, some pretty spools of thread and the cutest square buttons. Thanks so much for the wonderful giveaway gift- I am looking forward to coming up with a project to use those pretty squares. Do go and visit Rachaele's blog and see all the interesting things that she is making.

My blog friend Michele has a giveaway going on for the newest one of Freddy and Gwen's books. It is a wonderful book that will inspire you and bright your day with its rich color. There are other blogs hosting giveaways- Quilters are really generous people...

Copy paste this section
DIY Bag lover
I saw this link on another blog this morning and just had to add it to this long blog.. What a great set of free patterns.


And so the summer marches on- I have a few things done- some books read, some quilting done and a bit of cleaning fit in here and there. Part of me says I should be doing more things so that I go back to work with a well cleaned house and lots of projects completed and part of me is content to go where ever the road takes me.... We will see what August brings..

Warmest regards,
Anna

Wonky Stars and a Stormy Night...

Yesterday, we went off to see my friend L. and her family at her beautiful lake house. It was very pleasant to sit and watch the lake, look at her beautiful flowers and get in a good visit. We had a delicious potluck supper of spareribs with blackberry sauce, potato salad, corn and a spinach salad with feta, almonds, and black berries. There were chocolate chip muffins, apple or strawberry rhubarb pie and fruit for dessert.

The day was hot and sunny but the evening turned stormy and the sky put on its own pyrotechnic show with sheet lightning. It was the most serious storm of the summer and, when we returned to our home in the city, many trees had been damaged and some significant damage was created to buildings and roadways around the city.( We were lucky and had no damage to our property.) The power outage caused enough trouble that our local newspaper, The Edmonton Journal, was not able to print today.

Bonnie's Maverick Stars linked here is very similar to my current quilt project.(f you have not checked out Bonnie's website then I urge you to do so- especially if you are looking for a scrap quilt pattern. She generously offers a number of her patterns at no cost and has excellent instructions with each of those patterns.

The Quilt pattern that I am working from is called" Autumn Evening" from an Old Quilter's World magazine. My quilt is a variation of both of these patterns- I chose to make my stars all from different star fabrics(the original pattern's stars are all orange and yellow done on black background fabric) and my background is a dark blue with a black thread running through it.

Presently, I have stopped to do my weekly post and ponder whether I want to do the border on the star quilt, the way the pattern says, or whether to do something different. My dilemma is that I have run into fabric problems - if I do the border the size that they recommend, then I am going to have to play with the fabric to make sure that there is enough fabric left to make more stars.( I started with 7 and a half yards that I had bought for a backing for a queen sized quilt) There is barely enough fabric to make the required number of stars. My problem is that I like to audition my blocks and take out the ones that don't work. This is an unorthodox way of of quilting, I realize but it generally works for me-

Often my finished quilts come in pairs or even trios because I have cut and created so many extra blocks VBG.(Unfortunately, that really is not an option for me this time, because of the pattern requirements for background fabric.) I had just enough fabric to create the pattern as it was originally laid out- What to do? Making a varied background doesn't work for me this time either... Hmmmmmm

By the way, I have collected a number of orphan blocks that perhaps I will use them some day to create an Orphan quilt - I will have to name it my Little Orphan Anna quilt....LOL



We really enjoyed going to see The Lion King. It was a spectacular visual show - I loved the animals - the giraffes, elephant and the warthog were particularly noteworthy. It was great fun to go to Live theatre and see this show. My son, K. had a huge collection of lions when he was a young boy( over 25 were in his pride) and his favorite lion was one that we called DandyLion. Dandy Lion had a voice that was deep- akin to Louis Armstrong- One of his songs was " The Lion Sleeps Tonight... I thought of those days often listening to the music and seeing the jungle come alive on the stage....

This week I will hopefully get my own computer repaired and have some of my own photos to show you.
Recently, There have been a number of interesting blogs about The Sisters Outdoor show in Oregon last week. Check out Tonya's blog on July 16 th for some good links to photos and stories about this wonderful quilt show. I enjoyed reading the stories and am a big fan of Freddy Moran,Gwen Marston and The Gee Bend Quilters. I am awestruck thinking about 1300 quilts hanging outside being admired by many many people in one weekend.
Jean and her daughter Valori Wells have hosted this show for a number of years. You can check out Valori's blog here. Their store " The Stitching Post" must be a fascinating place.

This week, I will do more work on the star quilt and a little bit of rearranging,and perhaps a quick trip down to visit my parents at the end of the week -
One of last week's accomplishments was that I got my summer things put up around our living spaces so summer has truly arrived in our house - How about yours?

I love seeing all the various fruit and vegetables in the grocery store and spend my cooking time making salads and enjoying barbecues. For those of you in the southern hemisphere, perhaps you are enjoying time around the fireplace and foods that warm you- stews and such.
Where ever you are I hope that you are enjoying life with family and friends.
Warmest regards,
Anna

A Trip..and many Blogs to visit...

This "Trip Around the World" quilt has flown to is new home in Newfoundland. Newfoundland is a day's airplane travel(over 4000 miles) from where I call home. I live in Western Canada in a large city called Edmonton. Our metro area's population is approximately one million people.Edmonton is a beautiful city with a large green belt area that surrounds the river that flows through the heart of the city. I attended university here and have continued to live here since I completed my teaching degree. My husband grew up in Newfoundland, which is an island that is on the eastern seaboard of Canada. It is fondly known as "The Rock" and is a beautiful place with craggy rock cliffs and surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. Pictured here, is my sister in law M. She and her husband,T., have a lovely place on the eastern shores of Newfoundland that overlooks the Atlantic where this quilt will now reside. It is my most recently completed project.I hope that they find the quilt a pleasant way to wrap themselves up while having a nap.

First There are some great giveaways here in blogland with wonderful prizes that one can enter..Please go and check them out at:
Judi at Green Fairy Quilts is offering a very nice giveaway. She and her husband Clint have a charity to help people in Romania.
Ryan is having a very nice birthday giveaway- go and help Ryan celebrate his birthday and quilting.
My friendMicki at Irish Muse is celebrating her 10,000 hit by having a giveaway of some lovely Irish things. I have enjoyed reading Micki`s blog. She is a transplanted American and enjoys sharing her life with Joe and their very fine dogs. She often has wonderful photos of Ireland and makes many wonderful quilts and embroidery pieces.

When summertime comes, I have more time to explore some of my favorite blogs. I have found many wonderful bloggers from all over the globe that I have come to think of as friends. On the right side of my blog is a long blog list- all of them are well worth a visit. However sometimes one has limited time to explore such a lengthy list, so I thought I would share about two dozen with you. It was hard to choose but these are some of the blogs I read regularly.. Go and visit and you will see why they inspire me, make me laugh and enrich my life by reading their stories.

To begin,Kim makes me laugh regularly-she is a prolific quilter who creates her own designs and writes with real pizazz.. She is working on a very fun quilt right now that I am thinking about making with star fabrics.

Nicole was asked by another quilter her ideas about about the prewashing of fabrics and ways of storing fabric and quilts.It was a great topic and Nicole received about 60 comments on the topic. Nicole posts regularly so you will have to go back a few days to check it out.

If you are looking for a funny tale then Jace is your man. He is a wonderful woodworker too!

Gran "Shirley" has just started a new website and she is wonderful Knotty-Embroidery lady. Right now she has a giveaway.

Corey
had a most interesting antique object that she asked her readers to identify. Go and check it out and see if you can guess what it is...

Shirley is from the land down under and shares her life as a teacher in Queensland.

I am sure you will appreciate Meggie's tales of her life in Australia.She shares her stories about her GOM and family. There are always lovely photos and a musical piece to listen to..

If Color is your thing, you definitely need to check out Wanda's blog Exuberant Color. Her blog is rich with gorgeous fabrics and flowers from her garden.

Susan shares her life with Vann in the Yellow House in Alabama. She is wonderful quilter and an avid reader. I really enjoy checking out her current booklist.

Nancy is from Philadelphia - her current piece is about her reflections about blogging and well worth a look.

Mrs.Goodneedle often has a piece on Tuesdays that encourages readers to reflect about their thoughts and experiences with quilting. Life is indeed Good, Mrs.GoodNeedle...

Gene enjoys exploring with different mediums- he paints, creates with clay and makes colorful quilts and is a recent addition to my blog roll.

A fellow Western Canadian Joyce shares her explorations with clay and fabric. She is creating some lovely innovative pieces.

Until recently Tonya lived in Paris. She loves using words in her quilts and is an expert making free form lettering.

If you enjoy cooking as well as quilting, then you will want to visit Judy
at Patchwork Times. She is a master quilter who loves to cook. Judy also raises chickens.

I think scrap quilts are fabulous and Bonnie Hunter has created numerous free patterns on her website using scraps. She has recently written a book called "Scraps and Shirttales"that shows quilters how to make quilts using scraps and recycled fabrics.

There are terrific quilts being made all over this globe. There is a special lady named Tanya who shares her stories about quilting and life in Japan. I have especially enjoyed her pieces that share traditions and the cultural ways of Japan.

One of my favorite bloggers is Michele who hails from Oregon. She is generous with her time to help others create quilts. On her blog,she has provided links for free patterns.I have appreciated her many reflective pieces about life.
Pam hails from California and is a fairly new blogger who has a great sense of fun and a generous heart. She has a fine recipe for a pot of Cowboy beans too!

Sometimes life can be quite an adventure and Sharon at Red Geranium Cottage has certainly been on one lately. She and "Hunka" her husband, Dennis, have recently moved across country from California to the Midwest. She is back living close to her family and is loving it..

Eileen is a terrific lady who both hand and machine quilts. She lives in Western Maryland and reminds me my grandmother- thoughtful, devoted to her family and a great lover of the natural world. I enjoy each and every one of my visits with her- I know you will too.

Last but not least is my friend from Vancouver Pam who I had the good fortune to meet in person last summer. We visited some quilt stores and had a great time having lunch together. At that time, I was still a lurker-

Just over 50 posts later - I am still writing - who would have believed it....I was sure I would run out of things to say quite a long time ago but Here I am and, I am having lots of fun, getting know bloggers and quilters from many different places.


On the homefront, I have cleaned up my sewing area and rearranged my fabric boxes. I also checked out star patterns and finally found one that I will use to make a star quilt. I looked in the scrap box and the yardage and found a nice collection of star fabrics for the quilt.

My good fortune continued this week, where I won a giveaway from Rachaele at park avenue sweatshop. Thank you so much for choosing my name. I am one lucky lady.

I am looking forward to getting a new hairdo and going to see " The Lion King" this week.
How about you, what things are you looking forward to doing this week?

Warmest regards,

Anna

Sunflowers Everywhere

"Summertime and the living is easy, fish are jumping and the cotton is high"(lyrics from the song "Summertime" from Porky and Bess)".... and I am enjoying slowing down to a "dull roar" as my mother would have said to us, when we were children. The last days before summer vacation starts are always filled with the hectic preparations of trying to stop and start all at once.

At the end of the school year,one of the things that I like to do is find little things to say thank you to my colleagues for all their hard work and support. Using some glass beads, combined with stones,silver or crystal I completed six or so bracelets. Do you like to play with other medium to create things?

I enjoy playing in other things besides fabric sometimes- it is a nice break from the larger time commitment involved in quilting. I love wearing baubles and beads myself- a legacy from my beloved grandmother who always wore a strand of beads about her neck. Just call me Magpie- the girl who loves sparkly things!!!

Some very nice things happened to me at year's end. One of my students gave me this spectacular bouquet of roses- They were a most delicious yellow color with corally red tips. There were 2 dozen of them combined with babies breath. While they are beginning to look a bit droopy now 10 days later, they have filled our home with a lovely scent and a splendid splash of color.

A friend found me a new to me dress that was made by favorite summer dress company called Good Earth clothing. Unfortunately they are no long in business, but my friend chanced to find one in a second hand sale that is the right size for me. It is turquoise and has sunflowers all over it - it is indeed the perfect summer dress. I was thrilled with her find and thoughtful gesture.
It is not a party dress - more like a sun dress made of cotton and rayon- very flowing like a summer flower child . My husband found the small local store and bought me my first Good Earth dress about 10 years ago. I own a number of their dresses and live in them all summer long- no one is seeing my tree trunk legs!!!:-)

Do you like bags? Totes? My educational assistant K., is a wonderful seamstress. She designs purses and bags using recycled upholstery fabrics. As a year end gift, she created a bag for me, that has a wonderful double wedding ring motif on the flap. It also has a golden feather on it- at our school we award golden feathers to students who demonstrate four character assets- honesty, integrity, respect and humility. Thank you for this beautiful treasure, MS.K!
The lovely lady,D. who gave me the beautiful dress, also gave me a book by Patricia McKissack called "Stitching and Pullin". It is a wonderful set of vignettes in a picture book format about the women of Gee Bend and their quilting stories.

Do you love children's picture books? There are many picture books out there to explore and enjoy. Some titles you might want take a peek at include: "The Quiltmaker's Gift" and "The Quiltmaker's Journey" and "The Keeping Quilt" by Patricia Polacco." Another one is called "Oma's Quilt" by Paulette Bourgeois.

When you read ,do you choose fictional stories that have quilts in them? Some you may want to check out are the Earlene Fowler books that are the Benni Harper mysteries.Or How about Helen Kelley's collections of columns(She was a columnist from Quilters Newsletter magazine that passed away last fall. One of her books is entitled " The Joy of Quilting"?
Do you love to laugh- if so, you must read Lisa Boyer's books- one of my favorites is called "That Dorky Homemade Look"- Quilt Lessons from a Parallel Universe!!

What is a post without a photo of a quilt- though it was a near miss this time."Field of Sunflowers" is a disappearing Nine Patch quilt that I gave to a friend,E. who is having some health concerns just now. My hope is that she will find the bright colors warm her and brighten her days. Quilts are like big hugs, you know!

Last night I began to have serious problems with my own laptop computer( the black screen of death and no power- Aargh!!!!) so now I am using Bruce`s. It is a pain not to have access to my photos and addresses- I guess it is a sign that I am suppose to get other things done besides reading and writing blogs.VBG
We will see if they have to wipe my hard drive on my computer - if they do it will be a larger problem as it will be harder to find quilt photos to show you... We do still have photos on the camera chip but it will take time to reorganize them or scan ones that or not on the chip. It is a good reminder to me that I need to have a second copy on other storage devices.

I have completed the "Trip Around the World "quilt and will show you it next time.
My plan for this coming week is to begin a star quilt and have lunch with a couple of good friends.. and a visit to start cleaning in the basement...
Isn't summer time grand???

A belated Happy 4th of July to all my American friends- I hope it was spent enjoying good food and good times with family and friends..

Warmest regards,
Anna

Summer is coming....

C and E's paperweight wedding quilt was a quilt that I made for a friend's niece, a couple of summers ago. It was an interesting experience to be asked to make a quilt on commission but I don't think that I would like to do it again. I found it complicated to place a monetary number on a quilt. You can put a replacement value on the fabric, but it was difficult for me, to find a fair price for the time spent creating a quilt. Personally, it is simpler,and I am happier making quilts and giving them away to my loved ones..

What to do first? At the beginning of the summer vacation (well nearly summer vacation because I am not officially finished until Tuesday afternoon) there is always the anticipation of where to begin and what I should get done first.

Sometimes I have immediate plans, and other times, I have some time just to hang out, relax and catch up to myself after the busyness of the school year. This year I have a quilt to finish by the end of the week, but I will also have some time to just read and relax. I do have the quilt put together, borders on and spray basted together. It is a large twin sized Trip Around the World quilt so it shouldn't take too long to quilt(I hope). I also have the binding made...

This weekend has been lovely. I have had two outings with friends -one Friday evening and one on Saturday lunch. On Saturday, a friend was in town from Thunder Bay ( a city in Ontario about 1100 miles east from here)It was lovely to see her. My dear friend V.( who is a good friend of the friend from Thunder Bay) arranged lunch in a Thai restuarant. V and I, then went off to a bead shop and I found some lovely beads for today's beading projects.

Since then I have enjoyed reading and catching up on my favorite blogs- there are some wonderful blog writers on my list. They share their stories, offer tutorials on techniques: for example making scrap bindings(cutting 21 inch strips of various fabrics and piecing them together instead of using all one color). Some other offerings were some ways to make wool pictures or use stitcheries in quilts or make a quilt using one color( blue or red the most popular). I find the blogs inspiring and interesting to see what others are creating. Perhaps you do too!!!

Some other 'bloggers share their life experiences. One of my favorites is Postcards from Cairo by Jenny Bowker . She was recently in India and posted some magnificent photos of the Taj Mahal. It made me go and check out WikiPedia for some information about that beautiful tomb. I don't remember having seen any close ups of the inside wall decorations. There are beautiful carvings, scrollwork and floral patterns that are absolutely stunning.. Jenny has also done some spectacular portrait quilts that she has written about in her earlier posts. I do encourage you to go and have a look.

Another blogger Corey Amaro shares her life in France. She writes poignantly about the loss of her father and about a wonderful elderly woman named Annie. Her photograph reflect the beauty of the part of the world in which she lives.

On the last day of school for my students, I asked some of my little ones at school what they were going to do over the summer- Some said going camping or swimming or playing in the park but I thought that the cutest answer was " I am going to have a lemonade stand". This little boy is a real character. He loved the house center where he would pretend to be a "Spanish cooker" or sell me paper french fries from McDonalds. He even made me the pretend money so I could buy them from him. I am looking forward to the break but I will miss my 5 year olds" stories and jokes. They do make me laugh regularly.

I received a lovely giveaway package from Angela at Yellowbird Art this week. There were two patterns - One by Anne of Bunny Hill Patterns and the other by Joanna Figueroa of Fig Tree Quilts as well as two fat quarters that are very pretty. Thank you Angela- I shall have fun with your prize.
There are some lovely giveaways going on various blogs- One is a Minnesota Shop hop that you can find by going to Gudrun's Quilting on the blog list. Quilters really are generous people- there are many examples of quilters making quilts for Charity or people in need around the globe.

I am almost through all my older quilts in my quilt journal - I am down to the last dozen or so. I guess I better be productive this summer or I won't have much interesting to show you soon:O)

Hope that you are enjoying some good weather and sharing some fun times with loved ones.
Time to bead and make a quilt label.

Warmest Regards,
Anna

Fathers and Sons...

I have made quilts for many of my loved ones- This brick quilt belongs to our son Kevin. It was the result of an experimental border that did not work as a border for another quilt. It is a strip quilt and has a fleece backing-It is a scrap quilt and makes up quickly. It has many of Kevin's favorite things: hockey, golf and star fabrics. The border is also pieced.

Its Father's Day ....I want to honor the many contributions the men in my life make on a daily basis. Most of them are fathers (except our son)and without exception they are all wonderful men. Both my of my fathers- my own father and my father in law are devoted to their wives. They worked hard in their chosen professions and made contributions to the bigger world around them. This is a photograph of my husband Bruce and his parents taken during his last visit with both of his parents. His father S.,passed away in November of 2007, not long after this picture. My father in law was a great lover of life- he lived his life with zest and joy. Dad loved baseball, hockey,classical music, history, teaching, people, his family and most devotedly my mother in law B.(B. lives in a nursing facility where she is well cared for as she has developed Alzheimers in the last few years.) We miss Dad's energy and passion for life.
My father R., is a brilliant gardener, a fisherman and a man who enjoys tinkering in his garage. He is meticulous about anything in his care- his tools, his vehicles, his home, his animals and anything that is related to his family. My Dad, R. always says that a job worth doing was worth doing well. Buy the best that you can afford is another of the beliefs that he has shared. He and my mother, D. enjoy many wonderful times visiting with their friends, having coffee at Tim Horton's, and going to Bluegrass concerts together.
My dad is a person of few words, preferring to show his care and devotion to his loved ones. His wants are small- a few nice plants, the occasional opportunity to catch a fish, a good cup of coffee, and his family coming to spend time regularly. How many Dad's do you know will sit and wait patiently while you go and do your thing in a quilt shop.
Thank you Dad for your wisdom and unwavering support- it is a most treasured gift.
These are my boys- my beloved Husband, Bruce and our cherished son, Kevin. I am the short stuff in the middle- I am really not that short(perhaps a little vertically challenged) but they are also both tall(over 6 feet). I celebrate their bright minds and their love of life.
Bruce is a passionate astronomer, huge hockey fan and the constant in my life. I know that I can count on him to help and support me through good times and bad. He has been my friend and the love of my life for thirty years. While life is not always easy together, we find a way to traverse the challenges and still have fun together.
As for Kevin, he is becoming his own person- we are proud of the way he is beginning to find his way as an adult. Someday perhaps he will be a father- He has had many wonderful role models to show him what it means to be a Dad. K has experienced the richness of having the love of fathers and two very special grandfathers. I celebrate you all.


Hey Dad- Your favorite modern baseball player Albert Pujols tied Stan Musial's nine grand slam record today...We can hear you cheering and celebrating !!

My house mailbox is a fun place to go these days- or least on the days when it is something other than the requisite monthly bills. I received a lovely package from Christine this week that was a giveaway that I won a few weeks ago. The fat quarters are really lovely- purple and gold - such royal colors. I am not sure yet how I will use them but I hope that I will find something special in which to use them. Thank you for your generous gift- it will be treasured!

Summertime is fast approaching - or maybe it is here, if you think of summer beginning with the summer solstice. We had our first significant rainstorm last evening.
My School vacation will begin on June 30th. The school year has been very full so I am looking forward to getting some things done around the house as well as beading and quilting.. I will, of course, take some time to visit my parents and relax. I have a number of projects that I want to finish-
This week I completed the body of the second of two twin sized "Trip around the world" quilts. The borders are yet to be decided but I have a good idea for at least one of them.
I want to get the borders on the" Winding Ways" and the "Wonky Tiles" so that I can finish them up too. Bruce has asked me to come up with an" Astronomy Themed Quilt" so I have a few projects to keep me busy. And there is always the "Tumbling blocks" quilt in a bag waiting to be finished.. In between times,I want to devote some time to finding my way through the boxes in our basement and catching up on some novels that have been sitting languishing on the shelf..
Summer plans ...Lots of ideas ...I wonder how much I will actually finish... Hopefully lots..I know from experience that the time will go all too quickly..
Have a great week.
Regards,
Anna

Sunflowers and Spiderwebs

I do love Sunflowers- to me, they are such happy flowers. They raise their faces to the sun and seem to smile at the world.

My blog friend Pam sent me a surprise last week in the mail. She sent me two beautiful pieces of Sunflower fabric from her collection and a package of Sunflower seeds to grow in my garden. Thank you Pam, for your very thoughtful package.It made my day.

The quilted Sunflower Wallhanging (our son is holding it up in the photo) was made for my sister in law C., and brother in Law E., in Newfoundland. They are big fans of Van Gogh and this was my Ode to Vincent. I posted it previously, but can you ever have too many sunflowers? The technique is called Snippets. Cindy Walters has written a few books about this technique. It is great for landscapes and still life pictures. You use a material called Steam a Seam II for fusing all the little snippets to a background. I enjoyed playing with my fabric bits- perhaps you will too.

I have collected sunflower fabrics for sometime now. Like I said, they make me feel happy I used some of my sunflower fabrics to make a Disappearing Nine Patch quilt- It is indeed a sea of sunflowers. I will try and post a photo of it soon too.

As for Pam's seeds, I will have to dig a row to plant them so I best get it done tomorrow or it may be too late. We have had a very cool spring this year. However this weekend is a hot one with temperatures that are in the high twenties Celsius. Bruce has brought up a floor fan to cool off our living space. It sure does help.

Spider Web Quilts make such interesting secondary designs- This queen sized scrap quilt is bold and full of lots of vivid colors. I found it tricky to find the right sashing. It is quite a bold yellow with purple throughout. The background is purple and was a challenge to find some sashing to go with it.
Do you ever get the blocks together and then try and figure out how you are going to sash it? Or rethink whether putting sashing in between the blocks is going to add to the quilt? Sometimes you need to add sashing to make the quilt bigger. I tend to create as I go- I am not good at pre planning all the parts of my quilts. I have been known to change parts of the quilt a few times over until I am satisfied that the fabrics work together. Usually, I just audition with the yardage and let the quilt speak to me. This is not always my process but is my most common practise. Do you let your quilt speak to you ?
Or do you have all the parts chosen first?

The spiderweb quilt also belongs to E. and C. I am truly lucky because I have terrific siblings and siblings in law.Unfortunately, We do not see each other often as Newfoundland is over 4000 miles from where I call home, but E and C.are a great couple. When we do get together, a good time is had by all.
While I was reading some blogs, I discovered this lovely blog written by Tonya.
Tonya is having a giveaway on her blog. It is a lovely giveaway - you may want to check it out. She is celebrating her 100th post.

Tomorrow Bruce and I are off to see the Local guild's quilt show. We may even go for Brunch too. It is my reward for today's work- I have spent the day finishing up some paper work for school. I woke up early and I worked the day away but tomorrow there will be time to play.

It is quite fun to get the snail mail these days. My friend, Loulee, sent me a lovely piece of pansy fabric(she had some stabilizer she was giving away to whoever was interested). I said yes and another lady said yes so she sent something to both us. Loulee sent me a bright multi colored pansy fabric and a wonderful tea towel from her home - The Isle of Mann. I told her that I loved so many colors so she found the perfect piece of fabric for me. It was such a kind thing to do, Loulee- Thank you so much..

Perhaps I will write again this weekend if I manage to take some photos at the Guild show. I am not sure if they will let us or not. For now, I am feeling serious eye fatigue - the pillow is beckoning again.
Happy quilting,
Warmest Regards,
Anna